A Good QB Is Something Titans Have Lacked Since McNair

No one will ever forget our incredible stretch of good football we enjoyed while Steve McNair was the leader,warrior,fighter and heart of this franchise.From September of '99 until January of '04 we had an incredible five year stretch where we had the best record in football and one of the toughest men to ever lead a team at QB.If you watched McNair week to week he might have broken fingers,cracked ribs,aching back but the man endured some major pain and still played.We enjoyed some great years where the defense was one of the most feared and the offense pounded the ball down your throat and wore you down.In January of '04 Tennessee went to Baltimore and defeated the Ravens at their stadium in the playoffs and that game had quite a few memorable hard hits then of course one of the coldest games in playoff history we lost in foxboro 17-14 to a really good New England team but afterwards it was time for us to face the salary cap and we endured a couple seasons worth of rebuilding.

In 2006 we brought in quite a few players in free agency that ended up working out really well for us as we were getting to be a good team again.We were starting to build a roster once again with some really good talent.Besides Jay Cutler none of the QB's really did anything coming out of that draft.We got Vince Young and at times he played really well and lead us to victory but once defenses watched tape and figured VY out he didn't try to study film or dedicate himself to taking the next step.In 2007 we had one of the best defenses in the league but lost to San Diego 17-6 in the playoffs although we lead 6-0 at the half the thing that killed us is our offense sucked.The very next year 2008 we drafted Chris Johnson and that gave our offense a major weapon to go along with the best defense in the league.I believe we missed out on a super bowl win that 13-3 season because we didn't have a good QB so we lost by three points at home to Baltimore.Kerry Collins was not the answer at all.

Well in 2009 we started losing major pieces of our defense like Haynesworth and so we suffered through an 8-8 season one year removed from nearly going all the way.We ended up winning a stretch of seven games i think with VY playing some really good football.However the very next year in 2010 we kept having these QB controversies that popped up pretty much the whole five year stretch VY/Collins was here.

So you could say that after Steve Mcnair left there was a revolving door at QB with mostly VY and Collins trying to win the starting job but both played at any given time so you really couldn't say who was the starter.We've discussed this before but i will always wonder how far we could've gotten with Billy Volek who passed for 400 yards in back to back games we then traded him to the Chargers where he lead them to a 4th quarter comeback victory on the road in Indianapolis.He has his critics but i still say he could've been pretty good.

So after putting up with VY/Collins for nearly a half decade we got two more QB's in 2011 the veteran Matt Hasselbeck who played really well his first season leading us to a 9-7 winning record and almost made the postseason.We drafted Jake Locker and he has had played well at times then he has also played terrible plus the injuries seem to be a real issue.I am really hoping Jake plays well because his starting job as well as the coaching staff's jobs are all on the line.They brought in some talent in free agency also because the front office,coaches and everyone are serious about fielding a winner in 2013.

Now here are some interesting scenarios and how things might play out.Lets see Locker plays very well we make the postseason and the season is a success.I think we all hope this happens and that Jake is the real deal.Now another involves Locker playing really poor then you have to wonder with their jobs on the line how long they will let Locker falter before putting in the backup Fitzpatrick.Now lets say Locker doesn't play well and they put in Fitzpatrick still early in the season and he has a really good season and leads us to the postseason.You have to wonder what happens next.do they let Locker go? do they make Fitzpatrick the long term starter?

The bottom line is since Mcnair we really haven't had a long term stable starting QB and that has hurt us because you have to have a good franchise QB such as Brady in New England,Brees in New Orleans,Manning in New York,Rodgers in Green Bay,Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh now all these are long time starting QB's and also Super Bowl winning quarterbacks.

This is pretty much common sense. As much as I loved McNair, even he wasn't a great QB for a long period of time.

It wasn't until 2001-2003 that he really took off as an elite QB. Part of that is Fisher's fault for not trusting him more in 1999 and 2000. He was capable then and we would've won back to back Super Bowls if Fisher let him do his thing.

The best QB we've had since McNair was Hasselbeck. And I hate to say it, but he is probably the better QB overall... Not when he was with us, but from an entire career standpoint, he has the edge on McNair.

Now let the VY lovers gather and claim "we haven't had a great QB since VY."

No one will ever forget our incredible stretch of good football we enjoyed while Steve McNair was the leader,warrior,fighter and heart of this franchise.From September of '99 until January of '04 we had an incredible five year stretch where we had the best record in football and one of the toughest men to ever lead a team at QB.If you watched McNair week to week he might have broken fingers,cracked ribs,aching back but the man endured some major pain and still played.We enjoyed some great years where the defense was one of the most feared and the offense pounded the ball down your throat and wore you down.In January of '04 Tennessee went to Baltimore and defeated the Ravens at their stadium in the playoffs and that game had quite a few memorable hard hits then of course one of the coldest games in playoff history we lost in foxboro 17-14 to a really good New England team but afterwards it was time for us to face the salary cap and we endured a couple seasons worth of rebuilding.

In 2006 we brought in quite a few players in free agency that ended up working out really well for us as we were getting to be a good team again.We were starting to build a roster once again with some really good talent.Besides Jay Cutler none of the QB's really did anything coming out of that draft.We got Vince Young and at times he played really well and lead us to victory but once defenses watched tape and figured VY out he didn't try to study film or dedicate himself to taking the next step.In 2007 we had one of the best defenses in the league but lost to San Diego 17-6 in the playoffs although we lead 6-0 at the half the thing that killed us is our offense sucked.The very next year 2008 we drafted Chris Johnson and that gave our offense a major weapon to go along with the best defense in the league.I believe we missed out on a super bowl win that 13-3 season because we didn't have a good QB so we lost by three points at home to Baltimore.Kerry Collins was not the answer at all.

Well in 2009 we started losing major pieces of our defense like Haynesworth and so we suffered through an 8-8 season one year removed from nearly going all the way.We ended up winning a stretch of seven games i think with VY playing some really good football.However the very next year in 2010 we kept having these QB controversies that popped up pretty much the whole five year stretch VY/Collins was here.

So you could say that after Steve Mcnair left there was a revolving door at QB with mostly VY and Collins trying to win the starting job but both played at any given time so you really couldn't say who was the starter.We've discussed this before but i will always wonder how far we could've gotten with Billy Volek who passed for 400 yards in back to back games we then traded him to the Chargers where he lead them to a 4th quarter comeback victory on the road in Indianapolis.He has his critics but i still say he could've been pretty good.

So after putting up with VY/Collins for nearly a half decade we got two more QB's in 2011 the veteran Matt Hasselbeck who played really well his first season leading us to a 9-7 winning record and almost made the postseason.We drafted Jake Locker and he has had played well at times then he has also played terrible plus the injuries seem to be a real issue.I am really hoping Jake plays well because his starting job as well as the coaching staff's jobs are all on the line.They brought in some talent in free agency also because the front office,coaches and everyone are serious about fielding a winner in 2013.

Now here are some interesting scenarios and how things might play out.Lets see Locker plays very well we make the postseason and the season is a success.I think we all hope this happens and that Jake is the real deal.Now another involves Locker playing really poor then you have to wonder with their jobs on the line how long they will let Locker falter before putting in the backup Fitzpatrick.Now lets say Locker doesn't play well and they put in Fitzpatrick still early in the season and he has a really good season and leads us to the postseason.You have to wonder what happens next.do they let Locker go? do they make Fitzpatrick the long term starter?

The bottom line is since Mcnair we really haven't had a long term stable starting QB and that has hurt us because you have to have a good franchise QB such as Brady in New England,Brees in New Orleans,Manning in New York,Rodgers in Green Bay,Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh now all these are long time starting QB's and also Super Bowl winning quarterbacks.

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